The proposal to adapt the former Nordstrom building in downtown Santa Barbara into 112 new housing units received overall support from the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission on Wednesday.

While the commissioners had minor design suggestions, they said they were excited about the proposal and the new life coming into the vacant building.

“I think this is a terrific project,” Commissioner Keith Butler said. “We look forward to the resurrection of the corpse of the building that is there today.”

The redevelopment is part of the recently approved Paseo Nuevo deal, which transferred ownership of the former Nordstrom building and the land to DSP — a joint venture of Dune, Shopoff Realty Investments and Praelium.

The deal also transferred ownership of the former Macy’s building to Yardi Systems, which will convert the space into its new headquarters.

The Nordstrom store closed in 2020 and Macy’s in 2017.

The exterior of the former Nordstrom building at 17 W. Canon Perdido St. will largely remain the same, but with additional windows and shallow balconies. The center of the building will be carved out to create an interior courtyard, according to the proposal.

Sarah Bronstad, a land use planner with the project, said the intent of the design is “to provide residents with a place for respite, reflection, and informal gatherings.”

Instead of a “highly programmed space,” the architects wanted “courtyard design to emphasize simplicity, comfort, shade, and have lush plantings,” she said.

Units will range in size from 450 to 1,350 square feet, with an average unit size of 794 square feet. Eleven units will be marked as income-restricted for moderate-income households for at least 90 years.

The basement level is set to include a trash collection area, bicycle parking spaces, a residential amenity space, and storage.

Commissioner Ed Lenvik said the window configuration wasn’t appropriate for Spanish-style architecture and that there needed to be more white wall space.

“The project looks really, really good right now,” Lenvik said. “I could almost say I’m being picky, but I’m not. We will live with this building for a long time, and we might as well have it be as right as possible.”

Project architect Paul Anderson said the windows were as big as they were to let more natural light into the units.

Commissioner Cass Ensberg said she was “very excited” about the project but agreed that there need to be small tweaks such as simplifying the windows and adding more color and patterns.

“Initially, just looking at it, I feel very positive about it,” Ensberg said. 

A few commissioners said they wanted to see changes to the Juliet balconies, which are false or shallow balconies across windows or French doors that are too small to actually be used. They also wanted to see thicker walls around the arches in the courtyard.

The project is scheduled to be back before the commission on Sept. 9 to allow the developers to address the commission’s design suggestions.